Zenith by Audiaire

[mtamayo]

As somebody who is looking for a dope midi device like this, what else is out there that’s better?

Setting aside DAWs and unique built-in-DAW devices like M4L or Logic's MIDI FX, and modular building environments such as Max, Bidule, and Reaktor (and any others I don't know, like Mux or Hollyhock or Architect or MIDI Lab or…?) where you could patch up most (maybe all) of the functions of Zenith and go on to customize your creations in ways that would take them beyond Zenith, once you learn how to do that, I can only think of two plugins that come close, but of course don't exactly match the feature set of Zenith, or each other, other than both being weighted more to pitch/gate/velocity sequencing than to MIDI CC modulation, unlike Zenith which is lighter on note stuff compared to CC modulation. Up to you whether they're "better". (Neither offer MIDI maps for specific devices, or configurable GUIs, or modulation-pattern presets…but they do both offer MIDI Thru!)

Hy-Plugin's Sequencer Collection has, obviously, a range of different pitch/gate/velocity sequencers, plus a bunch of different modulation tools that can both target internal sequencer parameters and be sent out via multiple MIDI CCs to other devices.

Five12's Numerology (Mac only) is a modular environment, but it has at least one ready-made module that does both pitch/gate/velocity sequencing and modulation out via MIDI CCs.

There certainly are other sequencers that have a few CC lanes, but none others that I know of that let you decide how many of these you want, like Zenith, HY, and Numerology do.

Only the HY device comes close to being as elegant as Zenith, IMO. And I'd love to be able to use them together if/when Zenith becomes more "modular" with MIDI Thru:)

I was just browsing through my plugins, and I came across a couple demos I installed that I had completely forgotten about. SQ4 and MP3244 - both by Dialog Audio. Similar features, but main differences appears to be that these are broken up into two plugins instead of one like Zenith, and doesn't have a customizable GUI. Also doesn't appear to have any synth presets like Zenith does, at least not in the demos. Looks pretty awesome though.

[David]

Yeah, they're pretty great, with MIDI Thru of course:) At least when the transport is running for the MP… Not much use to modulate parameters on a synth you can't play! Would be awesome to MIDI Learn some of Zenith's knobs with CC from DialogAudio's intricate modulators.

The site for these also has excellent walk-thrus on setting up MIDI FX in a wide range of host DAWs, applicable to plugins from many developers.

But since they don't have note seq's, too, I didn't think they really compared to Zenith.

[BeeDog]

Maybe I missed it earlier in the thread, but for how long is the Zenith intro price running? Want to see if I'll be able to get it when the next salary hits (closer to Christmas).

[Gamma-UT]

Someone might want to take a look at the default MIDI map for Serum. There are some choices for default modulation targets that don't seem to make a lot of sense. For example, why have unison modulated but not the wavetable warp functions? It looks as though whoever did it just read the top line of knobs on Serum rather than picking reasonable defaults.

[David]

Maybe I missed it earlier in the thread, but for how long is the Zenith intro price running? Want to see if I'll be able to get it when the next salary hits (closer to Christmas).

The holiday sale just got extended—just now from a list email:
"We've extended our sale with 30% off everything* site wide until December 5th. "

I'd guess Zenith remains on sale during that time, too.

[Musical Gym]

Wonder why they don't say anything about a discount on the site (not that I saw anyway).

[UlasK]

Maybe I missed it earlier in the thread, but for how long is the Zenith intro price running? Want to see if I'll be able to get it when the next salary hits (closer to Christmas).

The holiday sale just got extended—just now from a list email:
"We've extended our sale with 30% off everything* site wide until December 5th. "

I'd guess Zenith remains on sale during that time, too.

Thanks for posting this, and yes Zenith's price is still the discounted price.

[BeeDog]

Maybe I missed it earlier in the thread, but for how long is the Zenith intro price running? Want to see if I'll be able to get it when the next salary hits (closer to Christmas).

The holiday sale just got extended—just now from a list email:
"We've extended our sale with 30% off everything* site wide until December 5th. "

I'd guess Zenith remains on sale during that time, too.

Thanks for the heads-up; far from my next salary so Zenith will likely be a future purchase instead...

[David]

I just got a reply from Audiaire to my support request for MIDI Thru, which was interesting, and hopefully useful for some; it's not working for me in Logic, and I haven't yet tested it in other DAWs. Here's the message:

Regarding the MIDI Thru, once you disable the note sequencer and the chord mode, it basically will carry whatever note MIDI you input without touching it. Unless if you are referring to all the CC data, then the best way is to just turn off the plugin via your DAW.

So, maybe in my earlier tests I didn't make sure that all the Note functions in Zenith were off…? I'll check asap.

In response to the email, I set up a MIDI FX chain in Logic, with the Logic Arp at the top, then Zenith, then the Logic Modifier FX, which simplifed connecting what Zenith was sending out to the Logic instrument, which didn't itself have MIDI Learn. The arp DID work fine coming thru when Zenith was set up as described, but when it was doing that (i.e., when my keys were pressed), the Zenith CC sequencer stopped running; couldn't find a setting when both would work at the same time.

I don't know if this is in fact a MIDI Thru issue, actually, since the Arp MIDI DID come thru when Zenith was on. But something's obviously not working if that shuts down the Zenith sequencer.

[Dirtgrain]

Any updates on how you all feel about Zenith?

[simmo75]

Any updates on how you all feel about Zenith?

I’m using it with my hardware synths and it’s dope!
Really convenient and easy to use
Not tried it with any virtual synths.

[clipnotic]

I'm testing and have just problems. I'm working in FL Studio 20 and tested with the Sylenth and Nexus preset maps in Zenith. And I'm testing Rapid and Serum, too.

With Sylenth some knobs in Zenith doesn't change anything and if I send a sequencer lane to it, it collapses. With Nexus I can change sounds with the knobs but if I use a sequencer lane it collapses and I get more and more hang notes!

And I have "Host Sync" activate but it doesn't get the host BPM, I have to click one time on the bpm.

Is this beta software??

Or is that a VST which only works in a few DAWs because the manual just decribes 3 ?

EDIT:
Found a solution for the hanging notes

I have to use the function "Use fixed size buffers (for buggy plugins)" in the settings of the Zenith Channel. That works but it increases latency.

With that, the Pitch and Gate Sequencer Lanes are working but It would be great to work without that buggy setting!

But still the other problems are there ...

[clipnotic]

so, I got it working by myself. I tested with Sylenth, Serum, Rapid and Nexus. And if create own templates from scratch step by step with midi learn, the knobs are working, too. But I still have to use the "fixed buffer option" in the FL Wrapper and BPM sync shows the correct BPM only if I click one time in Zenith. And I like this plugin

[UlasK]

so, I got it working by myself. I tested with Sylenth, Serum, Rapid and Nexus. And if create own templates from scratch step by step with midi learn, the knobs are working, too. But I still have to use the "fixed buffer option" in the FL Wrapper and BPM sync shows the correct BPM only if I click one time in Zenith. And I like this plugin

Glad to hear that it's working now! Also if you are not on the latest update (v1.0.4), you can get it by visiting www.audiaire.com/getzenith This version got lots of fixes regarding hanging notes.

[clipnotic]

Glad to hear that it's working now! Also if you are not on the latest update (v1.0.4), you can get it by visiting www.audiaire.com/getzenith This version got lots of fixes regarding hanging notes.

I'm still working with 1.0.4 and it works and it's really a great plugin!

But that "buffer size option" I have to use in my DAW makes problems. In my DAW it's still not possible to record midi directly like in Cubase for example, I tell them since years to fix that but ... So I have to use another plugin to record the MIDI Output from Zenith and cause of that "buffer size" option it records with high latency. Without swing in Zenith it's no problem because I can just quantize but with swing I get chaos.

It would be great if there would be a MIDI file export for pitch, velocity and gate together in one simple SMF0 file for example.

And I often get crashes if I like to copy Pattern A to B for example. I have sequences which produce every time a crash if I try to copy, so it's reproducible with some sequences.

If you fix that things, this plugin becomes a really fantastic bomb!